COPLEY COTTAGE IN LA JOLLA SOLD

Sale part of settlement of former publisher’s estate; home goes for $725,000

A fourth home involved in the closely watched settlement of the David Copley estate has been sold, real estate documents show.

The property is a 700-square-foot cottage on Ivanhoe Avenue near Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla. It sold for $725,000, below the asking price of $795,000, based on transaction records.

Paul M. Greiff and Anita Greiff, of Peachtree City, Ga., are listed as the buyers.

The property transaction, completed last month, marks at least the fourth one tied to the settlement of the Copley estate. Homes now off the market include a Mission Beach house that sold for $3.85 million, a vacation retreat in Borrego Springs that went for $712,500 and a downtown condo with a $3.4 million sale price.

The Ivanhoe Avenue home is the smallest of the Copley properties, with one bedroom and one bathroom. It was previously purchased in April 1999 for $340,000, assessor’s documents show.

Copley, the former publisher of The San Diego Union-Tribune, died from a heart attack in November at age 60. He was unmarried and left no children.

It’s still unclear who will receive the proceeds from the sales of the homes and other assets, including luxury cars, household items and artwork.

News of any transactions have been particularly interesting to the arts community because Copley was a mega-benefactor of organizations, including the La Jolla Playhouse, the Old Globe and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. He also donated money to animal shelters, hospitals, and the new downtown library.

Copley’s will offers no clues of his estate’s beneficiaries except to say that Dean P. Dwyer and Charles F. Patrick are the co-executors of the will and that his entire estate will go to the David C. Copley Trust, the document says. An executor is the person who will carry out the terms of the will.

Both men are executives of Copley Press. Dwyer is the chief financial officer, treasurer and vice president of finance, and Patrick is the chief operating officer.

“My estate, after being added to the principal of the trust, shall be subject in all respects to its terms and conditions in effect at the date of my death, including any amendments made during my lifetime,” reads the will, dated March 14, 2008.

Trusts, which detail the distribution of estate proceeds, are private financial documents and typically are not recorded.